Elephant District — Restaurant in New York

Hi there,

Just a DUMBO resident and local foodie.

I’ve got good news for you and I got bad news for you. Good news first reading this review is about to save 200-300 dollars. Bad news this place.

Let me take you on a journey cause surely you’ve seen the 4.8 star reviews, which I can only believe is cause they are the only Thai place in the primary area.

You step through the doors boom immediately an onslaught of AI plastered generated images of elephants wall to wall. You heard me right AI generated, and the quality of this represent the quality of their food. Let’s get into that shall we?

Well I’ll give them credit they never claim anything is fresh, cause while a whiff of any shrimp dish and you’ll taste shrimp like it may have been frozen twice. But hey that’s okay right? You tell me is spending 30 dollars on what taste and smells like frozen and defrosted and refrozen shrimp? But again they never claim freshness. It was just the shrimp the star prawns the crab meat, the fish! I only wish my apartment had a freezer their size.

But okay the food isn’t it what about the drinks? Well let me say this mango has sugar, condensed milk has sugar, sugar syrup has sugar, need I say more? It is a new invention a Thai drink dessert, except it’s their signature Thai tea, but hey at least they poke a flag through it like some weird resort.

Okay fine fine but the service surely they are good people. I wish I could say so, we did return a plate of food and paid for the rest, cause to be honest you hit or miss on places and sometimes you leave it there. BUT no the staff felt the need to defend themselves not once but in reviews (sure they will here too) the running joke is they are arguing about the single dish we sent back in inedible. The reality was none of the 270 dollars worth of food was any good less the branzino which was at the bare minimum palatable but over priced and dry.

Okay so bad astomsphere, bad food and bad staff or wait here is their icing on a an already shotty cake. TIP that’s right no where do they list tip is included not a single spot, but yet be not surprised at 5 people you’ll have a tip. Now I’m a fatass, and I eat a lot in BK i assure you we had tip included cause they knew we were likely going to stiff cause anyone who is anyone knows 5 people is not a standard.

So I leave you with this, as a resident, as an Asian, as a foodie, get some ice cream from odd fellas and move on. It’ll be 1/10th the price and you’ll be 100x happier.

And to the owners reply and defend I implore you, but honestly defending your poor decisions to get in argument with people who could have cared less is where the line of a dud to absolute...

My Mom took me here for my birthday and I have to say this place was absolutely AMAZING. Our server Kay was such a good vibe and good soul you can feel her energy as soon as you walk in the door. We started off with drinks and I suggest the "Rumpan" it comes in a little Elephant cup with coconut bitters ontop, SUPER GOOD, might want to ask for light ice tho. For Appetizers we had "Calamari" with Thai chilli sauce, and "Thai Curry Puffs". The flavors were like an explosion. After that we had the "Tom Kha Soup" now this soup absolutely blew my mind, it was the best soup ive ever had in my life and being Hispanic Ive had some good soups so trust me when I tell you! It didnt make sense to me how Coconut Milk could taste so good wit Thai Chilli Oil and Chicken. I was completely sold at that moment lol. Kay said I was "too easy" lolol. Then for entre's we had the "Crying Tiger Steak" it comes with Sticky Rice and a Thai dipping dressing for the salad it comes with. CHEFS KISS .. AMAZING! I Could not finish it it was a big portion and we wanted to save room for dessert since it was my Birthday. For dessert we had the "Thai Coconut Jelly" it came out in the shape up of a Elephant complimenting the name of the restaurant and on the side there was a shot glass of warm coconut milk (They seem to use this alot) and it also had a piece of edible GOLD on its head. Yes you read that right, edible gold haha. I loved every second of that dessert haha. After we finished I was so full; but not the "i cant breathe" type of full. It was like my body was so happy with the food I just ingested, I cant explain it. Im a firm believer in good energy, so consuming food that is made with love is important, it just TASTES better! And thats exactly how all the food we ate here at the Elephant District was prepared; you can tell. I also forgot to mention that this place is right undenrneath the Brooklyn bridge, the views are amazing. Great for pics. So after we left the restaurant we walked down the block to the pier to talk while we looked at the bright city lights. This place is a 10/10 HIGHLY RECOMMENED, great for dates, birthdays and just an overall great place period... Tell them Anthony Sent you...

Good food, horrible experience. Despite there being tables available outdoors we couldn’t be seated because the staff had allowed another table who ordered only a few beers (no food) to take at least 4 additional chairs from other tables so they could seat their group of 8 ppl on what was really 2 tables. They spent most of their time chatting over empty cups and smoking (which is against the law in NY in any indoor/outdoor restaurant). We put our names on the list and were told we’d receive a call/text in approx 20mins when a table was available. Our preference was outdoors but we would’ve taken either. We watched as the other table continued to monopolize the extra chairs and the waitress would happily check in on them with all smiles every few minutes never once asking them to hurry up or return the extra chairs. After 30+ mins we asked the waitress if other chairs were available. She was rude and dismissive. After another few minutes went by we went to the waitress to ask if we could be seated, shortly thereafter she gave us a seat. We quickly ordered, ate, then one of us went to the bathroom as the other asked for and paid the bill. As soon as I got back from the bathroom I sat down to gather my stuff and finish my drink before leaving. The waitress who was part of the pair that a) kept us waiting b) was grinning in the face of the ppl who held up table and chairs for over an hour immediately walked over and asked me if we could finish my drink standing to the side because they had people waiting. Suddenly they cared about seating pol expeditiously. Where was that energy for the tourists who barely ordered drinks and held up the table for over an hour? I will never go back to this establishment and wouldn’t recommend others support a business that treats any of its...